I'll be there
by trekygirl91
Summary: Tom's thoughts as he and B'Elanna strugle to cope with the loss of a friend.


Alrighty, first off Star Trek Voyager belongs to Paramount and secondly I am doing this for pleasure not profit.

I'll be there.

B'Elanna was finally asleep. Her head rested gently on Tom's shoulder, the tears just starting to dry although there would be plenty more.

Tom was also getting sleepy now; his tears as of yet unshed. This was what happened, he guessed, when a close friend died, well, was _feared_ dead although being feared dead and actually being dead were two quite different things.

"Were are you Harry?" he heard himself say "Were are you? Can't you see we need you?" although his voice had broken and tears were rolling down his cheeks, he couldn't quite grasp the fact he might never see his friend again.

As he lay there trying to go to sleep and yet not trying at all, he thought about Harry and how he got blackmailed into buying those, things (he couldn't remember what they were now) from that Ferengi, Quark (if he remembered correctly), back on Deep Space Nine, and then, quite suddenly his thoughts were pulled to the look on B'Elanna's face, when Captain Janeway had called them to the ready room and told them the story of how Chakotay, Harry and several other officers had gone down to the surface of the planet they were orbiting and, when Harry's life sign had disappeared they had beamed the others up and were organizing a rescue party, although the chances of finding him alive, she explained, were getting worse every minute.

The look of sheer disbelief that had crossed B'Elanna's face, and then the blankness that followed were things Tom never wanted to see again. As they opened the door back into their quarters though, it was a different story. It was as if she had turned herself into a Vulcan and just then had turned back into a half Human half Klingon hybrid with feelings that were very real and threatening to over whelm her. That was one of the things he loved about B'Elanna, the way she could be so unreadable at times... no, actually that was one of the things that scared him, scared him more than he thought was possible. She didn't do that very often, in fact some people thought she was pretty much an open book. But he knew better...

'Pull yourself together Tom' he thought suddenly, 'you should be thinking about poor Harry, not the woman lying next to you!' But, in his heart, he knew that, if in fact Harry _was _gone, he wouldn't want him to worry. But, it was his job to worry, wasn't it? Harry and B'Elanna were his best friends, if one of them were feeling down he'd help make them feel better. But now with Harry gone, what use would it be? He still had B'Elanna, but there was only so much she could help with, Harry in his own naïve way, had helped Tom, proof, kind of, that there _was _still good in this universe. Harry had so much to learn and it was amusing to watch as he 'learned the ropes' of a star ship, so what if he messed up occasionally, it was a break from the unkind reality that they might never make it home.

Beside him, B'Elanna stirred, she was waking now and it wouldn't be long before he was needed on the bridge.

He wondered if he could just call in sick, take some pills, and be done with this miserable existence forever? No. That wasn't the answer, that would include leaving B'Elanna, and there was no way he could ever do that. He remembered the conversation all three of them had had just the other day, were they'd all promised they'd be there for each other no matter what.

"Chakotay to Paris,"

"Yes, Commander."

"Please come to the bridge, there's something and somebody here you and B'Elanna may want to see."

"I'll be there in five, Sir. Paris out."

He rolled over, and went about waking B'Elanna.

"What?" an irritable B'Elanna questioned

"I don't know, but Chakotay said we should get up to the bridge fast," replied Tom

B'Elanna jumped up and was dressed in seconds with Tom only slightly behind. As they walked up to the bridge, neither of them said anything. But they each knew what the other was thinking, hoping with all their might, that Harry would be there.

It seemed to take eternity to get to the bridge, and neither of them heard anything more from Chakotay or the Captain.

Although when Tom thought about it that made perfect sense, they had been given an order (well kind of) to get to the bridge and no doubt that was what everybody knew they were doing.

Just then the doors on the turbo lift opened...

Sorry guys. That's all for now, if any of you liked it please review and I'll write more as soon as possible. Btw if I've got any of the facts wrong please tell me.

Thanks!


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